Celebrations Abound

 The past couple of months have been pretty busy. We had four birthdays in October, which we celebrated at Lake Texoma. We rented a house on the lake and spent two nights there. It was so nice to have all of the family together. The kids had a blast playing together. They especially liked playing at the beach and in the water. I loved watching all of them enjoying each other!

A couple of days after we got back, I babysat Archer and Kacey for a couple of hours, then Amber and I took them to Clark Gardens to their pumpkin patch. Archer LOVED the toy trains! 

The first Sunday in November, Dennis was invited to speak at the Hurst congregation. It had been quite a while since our last visit there. We really enjoyed seeing everyone and eating lunch together. We don't get out much on Lord's Day, since our congregation is so small. Although we always miss our little group, it was nice to visit with and fellowship with such a nice group.

The next weekend was Highway's meeting. Laura and her two youngest girls came down and stayed with us, as did Bella. We really enjoyed having the four of them here! Those three girls are such sweet young ladies. I love having young people around! We also enjoyed seeing everyone else at the meeting on Friday night and Saturday. Since we'd been away the previous Sunday, we really felt like we needed to be at Eastside on Sunday. (I had also developed a UTI and needed to come home and rest.)

Our 47th anniversary was on Nov. 19. We ate lunch at Cheddar's, which was a nice treat. Then we went to Weatherford Lake and hiked the boardwalk. Afterwards we spent a couple of hours visiting with Ricky's family. When we got back to Mineral Wells, it was close to suppertime. Since we'd had a big lunch, we decided to just go get ice cream at Braum's instead of eating supper. It was a very nice day!

We celebrated Archer's 3rd birthday on the 23rd. I made a Paw Patrol cake for him, and we went to Rick and Amber's for the party. It was just us and Charles, Linda and Troy. Archer was so excited! We all really enjoyed the day. Rick and Amber gave him a bike. He spent most of the afternoon outside learning to ride it. He did really well! Troy was so good at working with him and helping him. Dennis made him a wooden shotgun, which Archer had been patiently waiting for. He was so happy to finally get it!

The next day, we had Sheila's family over to celebrate Nam's 11th birthday. These boys are growing up so fast! I fixed his favorite meal (fried deer steaks and mashed potatoes). I really enjoyed reminiscing with him about all of the fun times that we've shared over the past 7 years. 

Since this was our "off year" for Thanksgiving, our celebration on Thursday was small...just us and Ricky's family. It was nice though. As usual, Kacey amazed us all with her appetite! That girl was born to eat. She'll eat almost anything, too. She was definitely a fan of Thanksgiving dinner! I love babies' first Thanksgivings!

Two days later, the whole family gathered at Rick and Amber's to celebrate Kacey's 1st birthday. Amber did a great job with the cake and decorations. Everything was so cute! Kacey LOVED her smash cake and pretty much ate the whole thing. All of the kids played so well together and everyone had a great time. With 4 birthdays in October and 4 in November (within a week of Thanksgiving), we've had a lot of celebrating going on!

I've just been working on small projects lately...a few gifts and some crocheted ornaments to attach to Christmas presents. I also made myself a new bible cover. My old one was really OLD! It was my mom's and I started using it after she passed away (18 years ago). I don't know how long she'd had it. My new one is more "fitted" and doesn't have a zipper, which was important to me. I also made a pen holder/page marker.

Well, after many attempts, I gave up on trying to make frozen yogurt bars. I never could get the right flavor and texture. So I found something else that I enjoy almost as much...sorbet. I found a simple recipe and have made it several times using frozen peaches and mangoes, and frozen mixed berries. Since it is mostly fruit, I don't feel too guilty having it for a snack. And it is really yummy!

I have spent the last 4 weeks in a boot. I went to the podiatrist a couple of months ago. He started me out on NSAIDS, icing and stretches...as well as wearing heel inserts...to try to treat the pain I'd been having. Doing that for a couple of weeks didn't help, so he ordered an MRI. The MRI didn't show any damage to my Achille's tendon...just inflammation in the sheath where the tendon meets the bone. I've continued the NSAIDs and icing my heel, as well as wearing the boot to facilitate healing. I'm hoping I can discontinue the boot this week. It is definitely feeling better!

We are really enjoying the cooler weather these past couple of weeks. Fall was really late arriving this year. The leaves are just now showing much color. I am loving the frosty nights and cool days! I love getting up in the morning and turning on the fireplace as I drink my coffee and ease into my day. 

I can't believe it is already December! Time to put away my fall decor and pull out my winter things. I got all of Stephen's family's gifts wrapped and delivered to them at the party Saturday. I'm trying to get Sheila's bunch's ready to take to them Thursday, when we go listen to Nam sing in the 5th grade choir at the NRH tree lighting ceremony. I'm still working on Ricky's family's things. Since we see them so regularly, I still have time to get their stuff together. 

In a couple of weeks is our ladies' annual viewing of "White Christmas" at the Palace Theatre in Grapevine. I have a couple of other ladies who are supposed to be going with me this year. It is always a fun night out!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season! 

2Co 9:10-11 Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.

Fall Fun with Friends and Family (I do love alliteration)

Wow, here we are in October already! Even though the days are still plenty warm, the nights are nice and cool. Leaves are falling and there is a tiny bit of color change going on. I've got my fall decorations out, both inside and outside. Things will be pretty busy for the remainder of the year. Most of our family birthdays fall between Oct. 5 and Jan. 30, so presents are piling up in our spare room. I do love this time of year!

As most of you know, Dennis had a stent put in his right carotid artery last month. It turned out being much more blocked than the tests had indicated...90-95%! Everything went well, and he is feeling fine. He goes back next month to have an ultrasound done, and then every 6 months for the next couple of years, to make sure that scar tissue doesn't develop. 

Right after surgery

Day after surgery

In August, Diane came to spend a couple of nights. Even though I'm a 66 year old married woman, I still love sleepovers! I'm a firm believer in "girl time". We spent one day shopping our local downtown. Gina and Gwen joined us. We shopped, did lunch, went to a local ice cream shop, and enjoyed visiting with one another. It was a great day! I look forward to our next outing!

We also visited the HC congregation in August. It had been too long since our last visit there! We really enjoyed seeing everyone and catching up.

Sheila's family came for supper towards the end of the month for Matt's birthday supper. Of course, we always enjoy spending time with them! We have a hard time getting together these days, except for special occasions. I sure miss the days when we saw each other at least once a week!

We kept Archer and Kacey Labor Day Weekend and the following week...7 nights total. Rick and Amber went to Gulf Shores to celebrate their 5th wedding anniversary. The kids did great! We had such a good time with them. On Wednesday, we met up with Sheila at the FW Zoo. It had been raining and was nice and cool. The rain held off the whole time we were there...just a few light sprinkles. The kids had a blast! It was fun to see Archer bonding with Aunt Sheila. She's always been so good with the little ones!

We had our 5th Sunday guest speaker and potluck at Eastside this past weekend. It was our best crowd so far! Koh was our speaker, and he brought 2 of his kids with him. (Michele and Dalton couldn't come due to illness.) We had several more visitors come from the Henrietta Creek congregation. Ricky's family also came for the day. Charles and Linda also surprised us by showing up.  It was great to have a full house again! We SO enjoyed the visits and appreciate everyone who came and made the day so special!

Archer and Gwen did some real bonding

Next weekend (the 11th-13th), we are having a family get-away at Lake Texoma. I am so excited! The last time we did that was six years ago, when we all went to Lake Palestine. We'll be celebrating all of our October birthdays, but especially Stephen's 40th. I've been baking and freezing for the past couple of weeks, getting ready. I want to have everything as prepared ahead of time as possible, so we can spend all of our time visiting, playing games, and just enjoying our time together.

We've had so much going on that I haven't had a lot of time for crafting. I did do a couple of heirloom bears, made from Mom's wedding dress. I also took the plunge and cut up my wedding dress, so I'm ready to do heirloom bears for the granddaughters using it. I hope to start on Gracie's within the next week or so. I'm not in a big hurry to get Rosie and Kaycey's made yet. They won't be "playthings", but rather keepsakes, so they won't really get any pleasure from them for a few years. I'm enjoying making something special from old clothing. I've also starting cutting up and saving Dennis' old overalls, so some day I can make some kind of keepsake from them for the grands.

My bear

Sheila's bear

I hope everyone is enjoying the changing of the season and getting to spend time with loved ones. 

Ac 14:17 "Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness."

 

Birthday Celebrations and Yummy Treats

 July has been a busy month…and actually cooler than normal! Although we’ve had a few days in the low 100’s, most days have been in the 90’s. We’ve also had a few small showers, which we are always grateful for!

Sheila and I celebrated our birthdays together on July 4. (Her birthday is 3 weeks before mine, so we usually get together between them to celebrate.) We went out for lunch and then watched “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot”. It was a really good movie and took place not far from where we were living at the time (in the 90's). Not long after we got back to the house, Matt and the boys showed up. Dennis grilled burgers while I fried up some taters. I had also made up some ice cream, with homemade caramel sauce, chocolate sauce and buttered pecans for toppings. Unfortunately our local fireworks display took place on the 3^rd this year, so they weren’t able to watch it with us. Dennis and I went by ourselves, but we still enjoyed it. There were young families all around us, so I enjoyed watching all of their children. There was even one family with an Archer and a Saylor next to us (Saylor is Amber’s youngest niece). What a coincidence!

Dennis and I enjoy these frozen yogurt bars that I’ve been buying for the past couple of years or so: Yasso bars. They are delicious but expensive. So I decided to try to learn to make my own. I haven’t found the right combination, but I’m still enjoying the results. So far I’ve made strawberry flavored using monk fruit sweetener (froze too hard); a fudgesicle using maple syrup and sugar (not bad); a vanilla with caramel, chocolate and buttered pecans, using honey (pretty good…just too strong a honey taste); and a peach flavored sweetened with honey and monk fruit sweetener (honey overpowered the taste of the peaches). I’m going to keep at it until I get it right! I started out making them with homemade yogurt, but that just got to be TOO much trouble. So now I’m just buying a large carton of plain Greek yogurt as my base. I really want to perfect the fudge one and the vanilla with caramel, chocolate and pecans. (Dennis is sticking with his Yasso salted caramel bars!)

On the 16^th, I had a couple of my cousins over for lunch. Dennis had a doctor’s appointment scheduled in FW that day, so he spent the day shopping and running around. It was supposed to be four of us, but Anita had to cancel due to illness. I really enjoyed my visit with Gwen and Debbie though! I hope that we can make it a regular thing.

Ricky’s family came over for supper tonight to have a joint birthday dinner for me and Rick (his birthday is 2 weeks after mine). I cooked supper, and Amber made and brought birthday cake (with a little help from Archer). We all ate way too much, but it was fun! We had shrimp tacos, watermelon and chocolate cake. After supper we all went outside and watched the kids play. Dennis is working on a seat that Archer can use to swing on the rope. He has some fine-tuning to do, but Archer still got to try it out. I let Kaycey hang onto the rope while I walked and twirled around, so she’d feel like she was swinging on it too. She loved it! She is growing up so fast…it is fun watching her learn new things and realize how much she can do.

hanging out in Grandad's truck

just a swinging

taking a ride in Grandad's deer hauler

I’ve finished a couple of sewing projects this month. I made my fall table runner. It is my largest so far. It goes the whole length of my table (without leaves). I’m really happy with how it turned out. I love the colors! I also made a Scrabble pillow for Sheila. I’d watched a video on Craftsy and decided to try to make one. I struggled with it a little, but I still think it turned out pretty cute.

Dennis is still waiting to hear from his vascular surgeon on when he will do the surgery to clean out his carotid artery. It definitely needs to be done, and it is located in the wrong place, plus it is too constricted to go through a vein. He will have to open it up to clean it out. We are hoping to get it done within the next couple of weeks. We’ve been waiting on his cardiologist to give his ok. That just happened yesterday, so we are now waiting on the office to call to schedule the procedure. Since they'll be making an incision in the artery, he'll have to spend one night in the hospital. 

Dennis finally decided that he needed to replace his old recliner in the den. The one he’s been using was a second-hand one that we found at an estate sale years ago. It was in pretty rough shape! I didn’t realize how big some of the holes in the leather were! So we went to a sale at the store where we’ve bought all of our LaZboys. We found a really comfy one in microfiber that wasn’t too expensive. We tried putting the old one out on the curb to see if anyone would pick it up. That usually works. That old chair was in such bad shape that NO ONE wanted it! So Dennis just broke it down and put it in the trash. It only took 2 or 3 pickups to get rid of it. 😊

Dennis has still been working out in the garage. He finished my broom closet and then moved on to putting doors on the cabinets that he’d already built out there. He plans to build more cabinets until he can stow away most of the stuff stored out there. He’ll also put up a couple of peg boards for hanging some tools and stuff on. It is really shaping up nicely. We hope to be able to park my car in the garage when he finishes!

One of my favorite things about summer is the fruit available. I’ve been keeping watermelon in the fridge all month, as well as berries and cherries. Last Saturday I went to the local farmer’s market and bought some fresh local peaches. They were SOOOO good! I can hardly wait to go back next time and get some more. A couple of vendors also said they should have honey available next time. I'm looking forward to trying out some of that, too! I also bought a carton of farm fresh eggs. Not only are they tasty, but they are so pretty in all of the different colors!

Well, that’s been our July. Hope you have all enjoyed yours, too!

Am 8:1 Thus the Lord GOD showed me: Behold, a basket of summer fruit. (NKJV)

Summertime Fun

 June started out with me having a cold. Thankfully it wasn’t too bad, but it kept me in most of the week. Dennis managed to avoid it, so that was good!

Dennis went to see his vascular surgeon after having an ultrasound done on his carotid artery. The doctor wanted to do another CT scan on it, which was done last week. He goes back to the doctor on the 16^th to see if he’ll want to do a “clean out” or not. Right now, he seems to be leaning towards doing the procedure. Other than that, everything else is looking good.

We drove to Vian for Morgan and Zach’s wedding on the 15^th. It was a beautiful wedding, and we so enjoyed visiting with everyone. We stayed the night and attended services at Vian the next morning before heading home. It was a quick trip, and we were exhausted when we returned home, but we were very thankful that we were able to attend!

The following Wednesday, we celebrated Sheila’s birthday with a taco supper here. She also requested angel food cake. That’s what I usually do for Dennis’ birthday, since it is his favorite. After supper, she and Matt left Nam here for a couple of nights. That allowed us to have some time together, and they could go out to celebrate by having dinner and watching “Hamilton” at Bass Hall. Of course, we enjoyed our special time with Nam. I took him to the movies Thursday morning. Our local theatre always has special free showings for kids in the summer. We watched "Despicable Me" and shared a box of popcorn. It was fun! Then we returned him to his mom Friday morning, so he could visit with Stephen and Mandy’s kids. Sheila and Matt watched them while their parents went to the matinee showing of “Hamilton”. I love it when the grandkids can spend time together, even if I’m not there to see them. Cousins are such special friends!

Amber and the kids have been over a couple of times, plus the whole family spent one Sunday with us. I also babysat last week, so Amber could go for a checkup. Little Kacey is changing every time we see her! She is sitting up much better, reaching for and playing with things, and trying so hard to scoot around! She usually ends up going backwards unless she has something behind her to push off of with her feet. She has cut 2 teeth and is eating more “real” food. She is such a social little girl…quick with a smile for everyone. She absolutely adores her big brother and babbles and giggles at him all the time. It is so fun watching both of them! Last week when they were here, we made our usual trip to Atwood’s. It was Kacey’s first visit there. She loved looking at the baby chicks! She wanted to get down and play with them! We noticed some pool noodles while shopping, so we bought a couple to bring home for Archer to play with. He had a blast! Of course, we had many “sword” fights. He discovered, to his delight, that if he stood on his little stool that he could touch the ceiling with the noodle. He was SO proud of himself! Kacey just enjoyed squeezing and trying to chew on them. 😊

I made a little dress set for Kacey last month. The pattern went from size 6 mo to 12 mo, so Amber chose the larger size. It may be a little while before it fits her. I can’t wait to see her in it! I’ve also been doing a little knitting (dishrags) and crocheting (face scrubbies). Last week I sewed a pumpkin hot pad for this fall. I plan to do a pumpkin table runner next. I also have a couple of pillows that I plan to make soon.

Thiess brought some of the bounty from their garden to church last week. I ended up with several peppers, so I decided to try my hand at pepper jelly. It turned out so good! I’m not a big jelly eater, but when I do eat it, I usually want some kind of pepper jelly. I’ve got enough put in the freezer to last me a good long time!

It finally turned summer here last week! Temperatures have been up around 100 degrees every day. It has been too unpleasant to get much use from my chair in the front yard. I did enjoy it while Nam was here! Before it turned hot, I’d also go out in the cool of the evenings and enjoy watching the day wind down.

Dennis built me a broom closet in the garage last month. He’s still working on the doors, but it is already functional. I love it! I always kept my brooms/mops between the freezer and wall. It was a pain getting them out to use. Now I just open the door to the garage and there they are within easy reach. I love having custom made storage!

We had our 5^th Sunday guest speaker and potluck yesterday. Jett was our speaker, and his mom also came. It was great to see her again! Diane also came over for the day. We enjoyed a wonderful lesson and fellowship, as well as a delicious lunch at Thiess and Gina’s. We were short a few of our locals, due to sickness. We were so sorry that they couldn’t enjoy the day’s activities.

This week we have a couple of days of 4^th of July activities planned. Our local fireworks display is going to be Wednesday night, instead of on the 4^th. Ricky’s family will be coming for supper and staying to watch them with us. Then Thursday, Sheila and I have plans for our annual birthday outing. We’re going to lunch, then to a movie. That evening, the whole family will be coming over for a hamburger cookout and homemade ice cream. Looking forward to all of that!

I hope you all have a wonderful 4^th of July week! Be thankful, not only for the freedoms we have in this nation, but also the freedom we have in Christ Jesus.

1Pe 2:15-16 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men--as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. (NKJV)

Another month gone by!

 Well, May is gone and June has arrived. Time sure flies by these days! 

Dennis met with his cardiologist a couple of weeks ago and everything is looking good...no sign of Afib. They want to continue to monitor him for another 6 months before they decide whether or not to repair the hole in his heart. His regular cardiologist recommended it when he was in the hospital, but his younger associate feels like it wouldn't be worth it at Dennis' age. He went this week to have his carotid artery checked out again. He'll meet with the vascular surgeon next week to see what he thinks.

Dennis finished the sliding barn door in our bedroom, and I love it! He did such a great job! It has a soft close mechanism on it, which I really like. He then started working on my first Adirondack chair. He should complete it today. I can't wait to try it out! He plans to make us another one to go with it. He really loves wood working projects like that. He has several projects lined up to do when he finishes these.

We went to watch Nam in a school concert the same day Dennis went to the cardiologist. We did a little shopping, then had supper with Sheila's bunch before going to the event. It was really cute! I love watching kiddos perform.

We attended a couple of days of the Memorial Day meeting at Salem Rd. We headed up on Thursday, so we could participate in all of the activities on Friday. We really enjoyed visiting with everyone and hearing the good lessons by Ken and Garrett. We left right after services on Saturday morning, so we could make it home before dark. That is a long drive! It was really good to get away for a couple of days though.

I completed my second table runner. I am enjoying making them. I want to make a fall one next. I found some beautiful fabrics in fall colors on sale. This one is for spring and summer: 

I also made a stuffed sea turtle and some bowl cozies. I messed up a little on the turtle, but it is fine for the grandkids to play with. He's sitting on my hearth waiting for them to come visit.

I babysat Archer and Kacey last Tuesday, so Amber could go get her hair done. Kacey is such a good baby! I am really enjoying having this special time with her. I missed out on that with the other grandkids...only getting to see them occasionally when they were babies (and with Shepherd and Nam, not getting to see them at all!). She is really growing and changing. She is almost sitting up now and is reaching for things. She loves eating cereal and bananas! It is fun to watch her and Archer interact. They sure love each other! Archer can get her so tickled!

We are really enjoying the weather we've been having this late spring/early summer. I don't know how many inches of rain that we've had, but it has been a LOT! Palo Pinto Lake (which is our drinking water source) is up to over 80% full...from about 32% a few months ago. The temperatures have been pretty mild for what we usually have. I'm hoping that will continue all summer. Last year was so rough! We were afraid that the extreme heat and drought had killed all of our San Augustine grass, but it is coming back nicely. So thankful!

We don't have a lot of plans for June other than our "normal". We do have plans to go to Morgan and Zach's wedding. We also have a 2-night sleepover planned with Nam. I'm sure we'll have our regular visits with Amber and the kids, too. I hope you all can do something fun this summer...especially if it involves time with loved ones!

Isa 55:10-11 "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. (NKJV)

Mother's Day Blessings

Another Mother’s Day is rapidly approaching. I hope that all of you moms and grandmothers get to spend some time with your kiddos. That’s my favorite thing about any holiday or other celebration! Tonight, Sheila’s family is treating me to an early Mother’s Day dinner at an Asian restaurant that I like in FW. Then we’ll be bringing Nam home with us for the night. It has been way too long since his last sleepover! We are looking forward to having some alone time with him.

Rick and Amber are planning to come to Eastside Sunday morning, then take us out for Mother’s Day lunch. He offered to take me wherever I wanted to go. I chose Whataburger. 😊 I love my weekly burger and fries, but I also like to avoid the crowded restaurants on Mother’s Day. Plus our Whataburger has had Hershey Hugs and Kisses set out for moms the last few years that we’ve been there on Mother’s Day…and I do love chocolate!

I received a surprise last night, delivered on my doorstep. Stephen’s family had sent me a digital picture frame. Once I got it set up, I discovered that all of my kiddos had already uploaded HUNDREDS of pictures onto it. I love it! Family photos are my favorite, and I have always tried to keep plenty of them around me at all times. It gets hard to keep them updated though. Now the family can add new ones on a regular basis, so I can enjoy seeing all of their activities. What a special gift!

Amber and the kids had come over for the day early last week. While they were here, Dennis and Archer went to Atwood’s to look at the baby chicks (and ducks and guineas). They saw a poster for the rodeo here in MW. Dennis mentioned it to Amber, because Archer had gotten excited and said he wanted to go. So, Saturday we kept Kacey so they could take him. There were storms blowing through, so I was concerned that they might get rained out. But they were able to stay a couple of hours, and Archer loved it! We loved having Kacey all to ourselves. She was such a good little girl! She is very active and curious about everything. I got LOTS of sweet snuggling in, too!

Sunday Kay and Diane came over and went to church with us, then spent the afternoon visiting. We do so enjoy having visitors! I am thankful for dear friends who go out of their way to grace our assembly and spend time with us.

I finished up my paper pieced table runner and love how it turned out. I quilted it by “stitching in the ditch.” That technique was perfect for the shapes used. One of these days I hope to get more adventuresome and try some free hand machine quilting. Baby steps! I enjoyed doing the table runner so much that I’ve already found another pattern to try. It is regular piecing rather than paper piecing…a much simpler design. It will be pretty for putting out in the springtime. I have also enjoyed my “toy making” and have a pattern to make a stuffed turtle. Since I love turtles, I plan to keep this one here for the grands to play with. I really like having projects lined up to do!

My cousin, Debbie, and I tried out a new restaurant that just opened here in MW…the Crazy Cajun. I was so excited when I saw the sign! I love Cajun and creole food (I really like most ethnic cuisines!). I didn’t think I’d ever talk Dennis into taking me, since he does not like spicy food (although Mexican is his favorite…as long as it is mild). We went for lunch, and their lunch menu was quite reasonably priced! We enjoyed it! They also have plain old fried catfish on the menu, so I should be able to get Dennis to take me from time to time. 😊

Dennis is ALMOST finished with our sliding barn door! It is looking great! He’s trying to get the final details completed before Sunday, so Ricky can help him hang it. It is VERY heavy! It will be so nice to finally have a door to separate our bedroom and bathroom…after living in this house for 18 years. I think it is really going to add to the look of our bedroom, too. I’ll post pictures when it is finally hung.

Well, I hope that you all have a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend!

Ps 113:9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.  (KJV)

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven

 Every weekend this month has been busy with family fun time! The first Saturday, Ricky’s family came over for lunch, and he and Dennis spent the day working on repairing their bed. I enjoyed loving on and playing with the kiddos, as well as visiting with Amber and Ricky. The next Saturday, Sheila’s bunch came over to celebrate Caleb’s birthday with us. I made him his favorites: shrimp etouffee and Key Lime pie. We visited and played some Yahtzee and just enjoyed our time together. The next Friday, we drove to Paris to celebrate Rosie’s 1^st birthday. Ricky’s family also came early, so the dads took the young’uns outside to do a little fishing. Archer had fun, but didn’t really want to have anything to do with the fish once they were caught. Ha! Saturday morning, we got everything ready for the party and celebrated our sweet little toddler. Sheila’s bunch and the Gaddy bunch all arrived between 11 and noon, when the party started. We enjoyed good food, watched Rosie try to figure out what to do with her “smash cake”, and had an all-around good time. It rained all day, and driving home wasn’t much fun, but we all made it safely.

hand crafted unicorn

Gracie's unicorn pillow

doll pillow and quilt

the birthday girl

Amber’s family were all in town the weekend of the 12-14^th to celebrate Becca’s girls’ birthdays. They came over to Eastside to worship with us Sunday morning, which greatly increased our normal crowd! Our little group was so happy to have so many visitors! Afterwards, we (us and the Hays and Ricky’s family) went out to eat together before they had to head home. Ricky and Amber came over and spent the afternoon with us. Ricky really wanted to go home and rest, but Archer kept asking to come to Granny and Grandad’s house. He is hard to refuse!

I finished all of Gracie’s presents and took them with us over the weekend. Her birthday is tomorrow. (Can you believe that she is 6 already?!) She really seemed to like the little unicorn that I made her. Unicorns are her favorite animal! She was pleased that the pillow and doll pillow and quilt matched her room décor (they were all unicorn themed, as well as pink). 😊She definitely has her likes!

Since I finished everything on my gift list, I started a new project for me…as well as a new craft. I’m trying paper piecing to make a quilted table runner. I did one practice piece, which I plan to turn into a trivet/hot pad. It took me some time to get the hang of it. I kept trying to orient the pieces in my head, which is NOT a talent of mine. I finally figured out that I could just poke pins through the corners of the triangles that I need to add onto, which enables me to perfectly place the next piece. So things are moving along much better now! I’m getting close to finishing my first 8 blocks (I think there are 16 total). I can’t wait to see how it comes together!

Dennis’ Aunt Geneva passed away last week from pneumonia and sepsis. We were all saddened by her death. Her funeral was in Farmersville yesterday. That’s where Uncle Cecil grew up. We were gone from 9 yesterday morning until 8 last night. Thankfully we had wonderful weather and no traffic problems driving through the metroplex. It was good to visit with friends and family that we rarely get to see…some that we hadn’t seen in many years. I don’t know what Uncle Cecil is going to do without his sweet wife. They were devoted to one another for 65 years.

Last Wednesday, Anita and I went to watch Gone With the Wind at the Ridgmar Theatre in FW. It had been YEARS since I had watched it and never (that I can remember) on the big screen. There were only about 8 others in the theatre, so we all kind of socialized and had fun. I love it when that happens! Anita and I were midnight getting back home, but we had a good time!

Tomorrow we are planning to take Judy out for lunch and visit. We are looking forward to catching up with her. She is such a dear lady! We rarely get to see her much anymore, since we started attending Eastside. She and Josephine have come to a couple of our 5^th Sunday potlucks though, and she is good to touch base with me from time to time.

This Saturday is Lula Mae Neely’s 101^st birthday. They are having a come-and-go party at her house that afternoon. We are looking forward to attending that, too. She is one amazing lady!

I went for my final follow-up with my eye doctor this morning. Everything looked fine, and he said the floater should either disappear or my brain will quit registering it within a few more months. I’m glad to have that behind me. I don’t like having my eyes dilated. I’m still struggling this afternoon with sensitivity to light, so I’m not getting much done today. I’m hoping I can get back to my sewing soon. Right now, my sewing room (the dining room) is just too bright!

Take care and cherish your loved ones!

Ps 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His saints. (NKJV)